O’Scanlon & DiMaso Request Bill Waiving Interest Payments for Municipalities

Senator Declan O’Scanlon and Assemblywoman Serena DiMaso (R-Monmouth) today requested legislation which would allow counties and school boards the ability to waive interest on delayed tax payments from municipalities due to the Governor’s executive order allowing extension of the property tax grace period to June 1.

“Our municipalities were given the ability by the Governor to extend their property tax payment grace period for residents until June 1. However, shortly after property taxes are due to municipalities, the municipalities are required to send the portion of the payments due to counties and school districts. If they don’t send the payment they will accrue interest. Which is not an incentive for our towns to give residents a longer grace period. We need to make sure that municipalities are not on the hook for this extra money.

“We need to encourage school boards and counties to work together to pitch in and make this tax relief work. And to be clear, it very likely may not work in some areas if this proactive cooperation – that we will make possible with our legislation – doesn’t happen.

“Residents are struggling right now. We know personally that so many still have not received unemployment and cannot afford bills and necessities. We want to work with municipalities to encourage them to give this property tax relief to our residents, but it should not come at an additional cost to municipalities.”